Caterpillar (CAT) Competitors

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, profitability, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Is CAT or DE more profitable?

Caterpillar has a net margin of 16.65% compared to Deere & Company's net margin of 12.94%. Caterpillar's return on equity of 58.18% beat Deere & Company's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Caterpillar	16.65%	58.18%	12.57%
Deere & Company	12.94%	27.31%	5.87%

Do analysts prefer CAT or DE?

Caterpillar currently has a consensus target price of $375.33, suggesting a potential upside of 7.54%. Deere & Company has a consensus target price of $513.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.53%. Given Caterpillar's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Caterpillar is more favorable than Deere & Company.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Caterpillar	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
Deere & Company	0 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.37

Does the media prefer CAT or DE?

In the previous week, Deere & Company had 20 more articles in the media than Caterpillar. MarketBeat recorded 94 mentions for Deere & Company and 74 mentions for Caterpillar. Caterpillar's average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat Deere & Company's score of 0.79 indicating that Caterpillar is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Caterpillar	41 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Deere & Company	31 Very Positive mention(s)	12 Positive mention(s)	35 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation & earnings, CAT or DE?

Caterpillar has higher revenue and earnings than Deere & Company. Caterpillar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Deere & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Caterpillar	$63.26B	2.60	$10.79B	$20.52	17.01
Deere & Company	$46.93B	3.04	$7.10B	$22.56	23.33

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CAT or DE?

Caterpillar received 50 more outperform votes than Deere & Company when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.37% of users gave Deere & Company an outperform vote while only 62.19% of users gave Caterpillar an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Caterpillar	Outperform Votes 1219 62.19%	Underperform Votes 741 37.81%
Deere & Company	Outperform Votes 1169 64.37%	Underperform Votes 647 35.63%

Which has more risk and volatility, CAT or DE?

Caterpillar has a beta of 1.35, meaning that its share price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Deere & Company has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CAT or DE a better dividend stock?

Caterpillar pays an annual dividend of $5.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Deere & Company pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Caterpillar pays out 27.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Deere & Company pays out 28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Caterpillar has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Deere & Company has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Caterpillar is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in CAT or DE?

71.0% of Caterpillar shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.6% of Deere & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Caterpillar shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Deere & Company shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Caterpillar beats Deere & Company on 17 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.